You need good communications skills to succeed in this field. A writing course, and probably a public speaking course, should be part of your program even if they are not required.

Consider taking some business courses. At times you may work closely with management, so it helps to be able to speak that language. In addition, the skills you learn in these courses may later help you make a career shift into management.

Petroleum technology programs tend to focus mainly on extraction. You may be interested mainly in refinement. If so, you may want to study process plant technology instead. About 10 colleges offer such a program.